Known drilling apparatus of this kind is provided with a substructure or a supporting construction for all applications in which it is impossible or undesirable for the frame to be merely placed on the ground. To sink boreholes into the bottom of oceans, lakes, rivers, and the like the drilling apparatus is mounted on a drilling platform or is retained by a lattice frame which, in turn, is mounted on a rise-and-fall platform. Systems of this kind call for a corresponding amount of space and can frequently be produced and accommodated only with special effort.
Particular problems may arise in drilling boreholes which extend at an angle, i.e. at a greater or lesser angle with respect to the vertical, because it may be necessary for a plurality of adjusting motions to be carried out in different directions and these, in turn, will necessitate displacement of the apparatus or its substructure.
It is an object of the invention to overcome existing difficulties and imperfections and to produce a simple drilling apparatus for applications in which a stationary element suitable for absorbing loadings is available or can be prepared on or at the region of the borehole, such with drilling apparatus requiring no separate supporting structure or the like and being therefore dependent, in this sense, of auxiliary apparatus but nevertheless being adjustable simply and easily and being adaptable to the appropriate application, more particularly for inclined boreholes. It is a further object of the invention to construct drilling apparatus of the kind described hereinbefore, in its entirety and in its parts, but in a particularly suitable manner.